This invention relates to suspended roof construction for industrial furnaces, and more particularly to a roof of suspended refractory bricks having a modular panel construction. The roof construction of this invention may be preassembled exterior to the furnace in panels which may be lowered between spaced support beams and the panel framework extended for suspension of refractory bricks beneath the support beams after installation. The panelized roof construction provides utilization of different type refractory bricks in different portions of a furnace or in different portions of a single panel. The panelized construction makes possible easy replacement of entire sections of the suspended roof and easy replacement of as few as two suspended refractories.
The suspension of refractory bricks in the roof construction of high temperature industrial furnaces is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,824,936 and 4,073,243 which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Prior art suspended roof designs have not provided roof structures as easy to construct or as easy to maintain and repair as desired.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,824,936 describes a roof construction wherein a plurality of basic refractory brick assembly units depend downwardly from hangers which are suspended from a suitable frame. Each assembly unit has a carrier brick having a reduced head portion and a body portion. The reduced head portion is provided with a hole through which an elongated rod extends holding adjacent carrier bricks. The elongated rod is hung on the hangers which extend between the reduced head portions of adjacent carrier bricks. Two filler bricks may be supported by each carrier brick. This construction results in recesses and unevenness on the top surface, or cold face, which is difficult to clean and requires removal of relatively large sections for repair.
In the roof construction shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,073,243, refractory bricks are suspended from hanger rods which are secured in recesses in one side of the bricks. One hanger rod is required for each pair of bricks making replacement of a small number of bricks easy, but is undesirable for an entire roof because each rod is an obstacle to cleaning. The roof construction of the '243 patent does provide a flat cold face.
There is a need for a suspended roof construction for high temperature furnaces which may be easily constructed and repaired and provides a substantially flat, unobstructed, easy cleaning cold surface.
It is desirable to assemble refractory bricks in panel units and a plurality of such panel units desirably provide support for refractory bricks for the entire furnace roof, including beaneath the support beams. When replacement of a section of the furnace roof is required, the panel may be removed and repaired away from the furnace and replaced. It is desirable to remove and replace the panels from the cold side of the roof, so that the furnace need not be completely shut down to effect the repairs. This has been difficult with prior panelized furnace roof construction which has required separate support structure beneath the support beams.
It is desirable to assemble refractory bricks in panels wherein the same panel frame structure may be used for different types of refractory bricks and different types of refractory bricks may be used in the same panel. This is advantageous where part of a roof panel is subject to severe wear and it is desired to provide easy replacement for only a few refractory bricks.
Furnace roof panels have refractory bricks suspended from support means including a support frame for suspending the bricks and which is suspended from panel module support beams which rest upon roof support beams. The roof panels and their support frame must be shorter than the space between adjacent roof support beams so that the panel module may be lowered between the roof support beams for installation, and raised between the roof support beams for removal and repair. However, such roof panels do not fill the area of the roof construction below the roof support beams and the areas between adjacent roof panels must be filled with bricks which have previously required construction of separate support structure.